Elemental Assassin 01 - Spider's Bite

natural.”
    “What’s not natural is the fact you spend more on hair-care products than I do,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. I reached over and rubbed his head, messing up his walnut locks.
    “Hey! Hey!” Finn protested. “Anything but the hair.”
    I almost managed a grin.
    We stepped inside. Finn settled himself at the kitchen table and fired up his laptop. He clicked through his various e-mail accounts and messages, seeing what his sources had been able to dig up on Gordon Giles and anyone who might have wanted him dead.
    “Here.” I reached into my hip pocket and passed him the business card I’d gotten from the coeds outside the Cake Walk. “See what you can find out about this guy, too. Who is he, where he works, where he hangs out at.”
    Finn waved the card at me. “Do you really think this will lead us anywhere? The IDs we got off the other men were all fakes.”
    I shrugged. “Dumbass was stupid enough to hand it out to those coeds while he was tailing a guy. I bet he was stupid enough to give them one with his real name on it. If we strike out with Donovan Caine, we can always go pay Mr. Smooth a visit. Worth a shot.”
    While Finn tested the silky threads of his information web, I moved into the kitchen.
    “On to more important matters—any special requests for lunch?”
    “Sandwich,” Finn murmured, never taking his eyes off the flickering screen. “You make the best sandwiches.”
    Truer words had never been spoken. I opened the refrigerator and scanned the sandwich fixings inside. Five minutes later, I had two turkey-and-Gouda sandwiches on chewy pumpernickel bread. I added a kosher pickle and a couple of baby carrots to each plate, along with some double chocolate chip cookies. Color and presentation were key when it came to food preparation. At least, that’s what my culinary professor had claimed last semester, when he’d showed us how to turn tomatoes into roses with our paring knives. I’d aced that final.
    I put a plate in front of Finn and took the chair on the other side of the table.
    “Anything on Mr. Smooth yet?” I asked.
    Finn gnawed off a bite of his sandwich. “Working on it. You were right. Dumbass was stupid enough to give you his real name, which is Carlyle, by the way. Charles Carlyle, although his friends probably call him Chuck. Guess where he works?”
    I didn’t even have to think about it. “Halo Industries.”
    Finn shot his finger at me. “Bingo. He’s an executive vice president.”
    I frowned. Carlyle hadn’t struck me as a true corporate type. More like a bouncer dressed up in a suit. “Executive vice president? That’s a nice way of saying he’s someone’s corporate bitch.”
    Finn kept his green eyes on his computer. “Haley James’s corporate bitch. Looks like he reports directly to her. A new hire. Just started a couple months ago.”
    Haley James’s name kept popping up everywhere we looked. Not enough to prove her guilty of being the Air elemental or behind the hit on Giles, but definitely enough to make her a person of serious interest.
    “I’ll put out more requests for info on Carlyle,” Finn promised. “By tonight, I should have a record of everything he’s ever done.”
    “Good,” I said. “What about the tooth necklace? Any leads?”
    “The rune? Nothing so far. It’s not used by anyone I or my considerable friends know. I’ve put out more feelers to my contacts. Maybe something will turn up.”
    I frowned again. Runes were important, especially to magic users. They transmitted information, showed allegiances, inspired awe—and fear. Hell, I hated the damn things, but I still had three of them on my mantel. And two more on my palms, whether I wanted them there or not.
    A tooth represented prosperity. Power. Using that as your symbol meant you were trying to send a message you were strong. Someone to be reckoned with. If we found who used the rune, we’d find who had set this whole thing up. Or at least some of her underlings. I had no qualms about killing my way up the food chain until I got to the Air elemental herself. Charles Carlyle would be as good a guy as any to start with.
    “What about Caine? Think he’ll take you up on your offer to trade information?” Finn crunched a carrot between his teeth.
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. It depends on what he wants more—me dead for killing his partner or to find out who really murdered Giles and which one of his fellow esteemed boys in blue is helping